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Friday, 21 February 2014

Novel set in Northern Europe (and certainly up there with the Nordic Noirs)

The Strangler’s Honeymoon by Håkan
Nesser set in Northern Europe

The
Strangler’s Honeymoon starts and finishes on a sunny Greek Island – but the
bulk of the book (and there are 600+ pages of it…) is pure Scandinavian Noir, set in the fictitious North European city of Maardam. The Strangler’s Honeymoon
was first published in Swedish in 2001, but the English translation (and an
absolutely excellent one at that…) did not appear until last year. Indeed I
think I am correct in saying that Nesser has written eleven Van Veeteren
mysteries, but that only six of them have to date been translated.

That
would seem a bit of an error to me. Nesser is every bit as accomplished a
writer as either a Stieg Larsen or a Jo Nesbø. I am sure he deserves, and will
get, their fame in due course. I truly hope so – if all his books are as
accomplished as The Strangler’s Honeymoon (and I am told they are).

Van
Veeteren is a somewhat grumpy 60+ retired detective who has bought an
antiquarian bookshop to fill his twilight years with a hobby he loves. But he
is never far from the force he used to work for – and the current crop of
detectives still call him Chief Inspector and seek his wise intuition in
solving crimes. And ‘intuition’ is the key word… Van Veeteren works with a
combination of the evidence placed in front of him plus his instincts. He is
drawn into The Strangler’s Honeymoon by the visit, just as he about to go on
holiday, by a priest to the bookshop – a priest who senses foreboding and who
wants to talk to him ‘as a policeman, but not as a policeman’. Van Veeteren is
too rushed to talk then, but promises the priest a meeting on his return. When
he returns Van Veeteren finds the priest killed in an ‘accident’ and a teenage
girl brutally murdered. His suspicions and his involvement begin to grow as he
works with the police (and in particular Eva Moreno) to track down the murderer
– a man they also suspect of other crimes.

The
fictitious Maardam is core to the story from the smart middle class areas to
the seedier parts of the city. As you read you can sense the deprivation that
some people have to survive – and the weather fits in perfectly. It is grey and
dispiriting… and ties in neatly with the sick violence of the crimes. A truly ‘noir’
setting for the story…

The
Strangler’s Honeymoon is very certainly a ‘page turner’, but it is a great deal
more. The characters are well drawn, sympathetic, and believable. The
relationship between Van Veeteren and the current members of the police force
is not straightforward but it comes through in a way with which one can
identify and empathise.

All
in all The Strangler’s Honeymoon is an excellent book, and one that I would
very certainly recommend.

Tony for the TripFiction TeamCome and say hello on Facebook and Twitter where we chat books, travel and more...

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